‘McStick’ McNaughton inducted into stick curling hall of fame
Board member, trophy maker, organizer of spiels, stick curling teacher, silent competitor and, most importantly, a friend to all.
This was how John “McStick” McNaughton was described by fellow stick curling player Haylett Clarke, as McNaughton was inducted into the Nova Scotia Stick Curling Hall of Fame.
A large crowd came out to the Bluenose Curling Club in New Glasgow to recognize the contribution to the development and advancement of stick curling in Nova Scotia that McNaughton has made.
McNaughton was the director of Nova Scotia Stick Curling from 2011 to 2015, he taught members of his own club and held clinics for others so they could learn the sport, organized stick curling leagues and spiels and heavily promoted the sport.
As he was accepting the induction, McNaughton said it was an honour to be inducted alongside Ronnie Crowe, who has since passed. Together, they pioneered stick curling in the province.
“Every army needs a general and a corporal, and Ronnie was definitely the general in our group and I was just a corporal,” says McNaughton.
Clarke curled with McNaughton on and off for 35 years and said he was great to curl with.
“You’ve taught many people and you are by far the best stick curler there is in the club and we wish you will have many more years of it and teach us some more lessons,” Clarke said.
The current director of the Nova Scotia Stick Curling Association, Bruce Densmore, first ran into McNaughton in a locker room. Playing against him, he noticed his jacket had “McStick” emblazoned on the back — a nickname Densmore says McNaughton certainly earned.
“I didn’t realize at the time that it was supposed to be fear wear, and I was supposed to be intimidated, but it didn’t take too far into the game when I started referring to Haylett and John as what I called ‘the silent assassins,’” says Densmore. “Every shot they took was like a silent dagger into the heart and at the end of that game I think I looked over at John and said, ‘I got to learn how to play this game like you.’”
Some of the accomplishments under McNaughton’s belt for stick curling include being a Maritime Stick Curling Championship gold medallist in 2011 and 2017 and being a Nova Scotia Stick Curling Championship gold medallist in 2017 and in 2008 a silver medallist.
McNaughton took up stick curling in 2003 after a knee replacement surgery left him unable to curl traditionally.
He says he didn’t like it at first but encourages those interested in the sport to do what he did and keep at it.
“Don’t give up after you’ve tried it once because it takes a little while to get onto but when you do get on to it, it will be a lot of fun.”